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3 way dispute between China, USA and Pakistan |
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July 9, 2000
BEIJING (AP) - China and the U.S. failed to put to rest a dispute over China's aid to Pakistan's missile program during talks that restarted dialogue on arms control after a 19-month interruption. "We made progress but the issue remains unresolved," John Holum, Washington's chief arms control negotiator, told a news conference Saturday after two days of discussions with Chinese officials. The sides agreed to hold further expert level discussions in the near future, he said. Holum said he also explained Washington's arguments in favor of a national anti-missile defense shield, a system China and Russia adamantly oppose, and defended U.S. sales of defensive weapons to Taiwan. China, led in the talks by Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya, raised "strong concerns," over Taiwan arms sales and restated its opposition to the inclusion of the island it considers a breakaway province within any regional missile shield, Holum said. Holum's visit marks a resumption of arms control dialogue that China broke off after U.S. planes bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade last May, six months after their last formal session. Washington has long sought to hold regular talks on missile proliferation, a matter that has repeatedly bedeviled relations between the sides. A U.S. intelligence report last year claimed China sent longtime ally Pakistan nuclear-capable M-11 missiles in the early 1990s, which could force the U.S. to apply sanctions against China under anti-missile proliferation rules. U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration is trying to avoid imposing sanctions. Pressure, though, is growing in Congress for Clinton to wring concessions from Beijing - proposed legislation in the Senate calls for monitoring of China's weapons proliferation and possible sanctions. Holum called the pending law unnecessary. China has pledged not to export whole missile systems and denies selling them to Pakistan. But it has declined to sign the international Missile Technology Control Regime or abide by its ban on sales of missile components. Holum said he told the Chinese side that no decision has been made on whether to include Taiwan under a missile shield. He said he tried to assuage China's suspicions that such a system is aimed at containing the threat from China's missiles. "We've made clear to China that we take their concerns seriously and we intend to address them," Holum said. Referring to the failed testing of a U.S.Ùdssile interceptor on Saturday, he said the test's being held while he was in Beijing was an unintended coincidence. Holum said the U.S. will honor its legal obligation to sell Taiwan enough weaponry to fend off a Chinese attack and said the nature of Taiwan's defense depends on what sort of threat China deploys against the island. Holum also met with Lt. Gen. Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of the general staff of China's military, and top foreign policy experts. |